摘要
By studying the vocabulary of rot and decay, the opportunity presents itself to engage one of the fundamental beliefs of the Egyptian culture from the aspect of its frst principles. The reason why this matters is because some of the 20th century translators that we have today are based upon emendations made because the idioms did not make sense to translators who viewed ancient myth through a 19th century By underlens.
While the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification inhibited physical decomposition, the Egyptians believed that there was a liminal state during decomposition where the dead were vulnerable to spiritual attack. Spells and incantations were used as a measure to preserve the deceased by ritually converting and transforming the products of decomposition. This paper explores the lexicography of rot and decay in order to study idiomatic expressions that anticipate outcomes that preserve the dead, reverse decomposition, and transfigure the deceased. The paper relates the ritual conversion presumed through some of the Coffin Texts to religious beliefs and practices that include apotheosis, gilded coffins, and the green skin of Osiris.
